Is this a good book to do a literary analysis paper on or is I Am the Cheese better?

I much prefer The Chocolate War, as it is a groundbreaking young adult novel with a complex narrative style, symbolism, and themes.

Narrative style: the novel is told from multiple points of view, much like Faulkner did with his "free style" narration in As I Lay Dying. Although this causes our narrators to be unreliable, we get a better perspective of Jerry and his problems, and a shifting point of view prevents the novel...

I much prefer The Chocolate War, as it is a groundbreaking young adult novel with a complex narrative style, symbolism, and themes.

Narrative style: the novel is told from multiple points of view, much like Faulkner did with his "free style" narration in As I Lay Dying. Although this causes our narrators to be unreliable, we get a better perspective of Jerry and his problems, and a shifting point of view prevents the novel from being melodramatic, in that we empathize with, but no pity Jerry.

Symbolism: Cormier is a bit heavy-handed with the religious imagery and metaphors here, and it has caused some backlash, especially in the Catholic community. But the novel can be read as a kind of morality tale/allegory of individual good versus group evil. The novel also attacks the greed of capitalism through symbolic tropes.

Themes: already mentioned is the Good v. Evil and Individual vs. Group themes. Also present are the Victim vs. Victimized (due to peer pressure) and--the most relevant--Courage vs. Cowardice. All of these themes are intertwined, as Cormier attacks groups the way many existentialist writers do: pitting a lone individual, absurd hero against a group (peers and authority figures; even God/religion).